Air France A330 did not break up in mid-air: investigators
Investigations into the loss of the Air France Airbus A330 over the
South Atlantic have determined that the aircraft did not break up in
mid-air, and did not transmit a distress message.
The French Bureau d'Enquetes et d'Analyses, in an update to the
flight AF447 inquiry today, has also stated that it will stop the
current undersea search operation for the flight recorders on 10 July.
Speaking at the briefing, the BEA's Alain Bouillard said: "As of
today we are far from having any real idea of the causes of this
accident."
But he says that bottom-to-top deformation of structural components
recovered from the water showed the aircraft appears to have struck the
ocean surface with a "sharp vertical" acceleration.
The nature of the damage, he says, indicates that the jet was "not destroyed in flight".
Bouillard says the aircraft's maintenance complied with
requirements, there were no reports of technical problems from the
crew, and there was no distress call - either to air traffic control or
other aircraft - at the time of the loss on 1 June.
Search teams are still trying to locate the flight recorders but the
sonic transmitters are only required to operate for 30 days. The
current search effort will be abandoned on 10 July and a second phase,
using different techniques, will start after 14 July.
"We refuse to believe that we will not find them," says Bouillard.
He says the BEA's analysis of the event has also included
examination of the behaviour of three other flights in the vicinity: an
Iberia Airbus A340, 12min behind the A330, another Air France A330
which was 37min behind, and a Lufthansa Boeing 747-400 which was 20min
away.
All the aircraft were travelling at flight levels 350-370, around
the same altitude as AF447. Bouillard says the aircraft flew to avoid
storm cells between the ORARO oceanic waypoint and the TASIL waypoint
some 120nm northeast.
These flights experienced "moderate turbulence", he says, and diverged from their courses by 10-80nm.
http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2009/07/02/329159/air-france-a330-did-not-break-up-in-mid-air-investigators.html